people with disabilities Paralympian Blake Leeper Wants More Safe Spaces For Disabled People to Work Out Paralympic runner Blake Leeper is fighting for the next generation of disabled kids. His dream was to represent them by competing in the Tokyo Olympics with his prosthetic legs. But after losing that appeal, he has turned his focus to creating safe spaces for the disabled community to work out.
black women How Ashleigh Johnson Went From ‘Just Playing' to Inspiring Others Ashleigh Johnson was the first Black woman to join the U.S. women’s national water polo team in 2016, and won gold in 2016 and 2020. At first, she didn’t dwell on the significance of her achievements, but eventually was able to embrace her Blackness. Johnson talks about coming into her own and the advice she gives to young athletes who...
paralympics What It's Like Repping the U.S. Wheelchair Basketball Team For the 1st Time Wheelchair basketball athlete Zoe Voris is in Tokyo representing Team USA. She spoke to LX News Now host Eric Alvarez about traveling and being apart from her family due to COVID restrictions at the events. Plus, we hear from her teammates and coach at UT Arlington, which has sent 14 athletes to this year’s Paralympics representing 3 different countries.
skateboarding Skateboarding Medalist Cory Juneau Shows Us How to Do One of His Hardest Tricks (Kind Of) Cory Juneau says it’s still “surreal” that he took home the bronze medal for park skateboarding from the Tokyo Olympics. As the 22-year-old San Diego native looks to the future, he stopped by NBCLX to look back at his experience — and attempted to show us how to do one of the trickiest kickflips he nailed in Tokyo.
Closing Ceremony Why Do Athletes Parade in No Particular Order During the Olympics Closing Ceremony? While athletes paraded their flags according to the Japanese alphabet during the opening ceremony, at the finale they march en masse.
COVID-19 Congratulations! Now, Get Out. Olympians Get Rushed Out of Tokyo as Games End As the Tokyo Olympics wind down, its athletes — and even its most decorated medalists — are getting rushed out of the country almost immediately after stepping off the podium. That’s due to Japanese visa restrictions related to worries about the spread of COVID-19. NBCLX storyteller Chase Cain explains.
LX News Couldn't Make it to the Olympics? Take a Tokyo Tour with Us Get a look behind the scenes of the Olympic Games, and see Tokyo from our staff visiting the megacity.
Olympic Torch How Tokyo Turned the Olympic Flame Into a Symbol of a Sustainable Future Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe — and it may just be the key to a carbon-free world. During its time on the world stage, the city of Tokyo is using it to fuel the Olympic Flame as a way to showcase its possibilities as a green energy source. NBCLX storyteller Chase Cain reports from the Tokyo...
LGBTQ LGBTQ Olympians Are Breaking Records and Boundaries in Tokyo There are at least 180 openly LGBTQ Olympians in Tokyo this summer — that’s more than three times the number of athletes who were out in Rio at the 2016 Olympics. That’s a testament to the overwhelming acceptance of queer athletes, especially in women’s sports, and the power of social media to give athletes a platform to show their authentic...
Olympics An Empty Fan Park and Signs of an Olympics That Could've Been The 2020 Fan Park was supposed to be a place where spectators could go and enjoy a variety of experiences and performances. Today, the Fan Park is a ghost town, closed off to the public to comply with Tokyo’s state of emergency.
